Clinical Characteristics and Prognosis of Primary Thyroid Lymphoma Patients

Objective To explore the clinical manifestation, pathological features, treatment regimen and prognosis of primary thyroid lymphoma (PTL) patients.

Methods We analyzed retrospectively the clinicopathologic features, diagnosis and treatment of 13 PTL patients confirmed by pathology.

Results All patients were B cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma, including three cases of extranodal marginal zone lymphoma and 10 cases of diffuse large B cell lymphoma; 10 patients were in the early stage (stage Ⅰ and Ⅱ) and three patients with advanced stage (stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ); only one patient accepted surgical resection and the rest accepted multi-drug chemotherapy or combined with local radiotherapy; the median survival time was 99.5 months and the 5-year survival rate was 100%.

Conclusion The incidence of PTL is low. Thyroid nodules are the main symptoms. More than half of them are accompanied with Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Main pathological type is B cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. CHOP-based chemotherapy is effective for most of the patients with good prognosis.